Monday, November 28, 2016

Taobao - The Complete 4PX, NinjaVan, DPex, Prouter Guide (Updated)

It has since been 2 years and after several changes to the interfaces and links, i would like to give an 'update' to this guide to help you with your shopping. This update will be applicable to any of the Taobao Official Freight Forwarders - 4PX, Prouter, NinjaVan and DPex.

I am assuming that you have already read the Taobao Account Creation guide and have an account ready. So i will go straight to the main highlights of using a Taobao appointed official freight forwarder.

So let's proceed.

Setup Your Singapore Address

This step is pretty important for home deliveries. 4PX has a tie-up with Singpost for POPStation deliveries. But nevertheless, it is important to input the right address to ensure your goodies will reach you!

Select "账号管理" (Account Management)

Select "收货地址" (Delivery Address)

Add your home (Singapore) address.

Let's Add Something to Our Cart

I am going to buy some caps for my son, so let's add them to our Shopping Cart.

Check Out

Select the items and click the "结算" button at the bottom. You will see the following screen.

As you can see, the rates are clearly displayed for each of the Taobao Official Freight Forwarders. For our example, we will use 4PX to deliver our purchases.

(Rates Accurate As of 23-Nov-16)

DPEX

¥30 for first KG ( ¥10 per subsequent 0.5kg)

4PX

¥33 for first KG ( ¥10 per subsequent 0.5kg)

NINJA VAN

¥26 for first KG ( ¥9 per subsequent 0.5kg)

PRouter

¥27 for first KG ( ¥10 per subsequent 0.5kg)

Click on "确认" (Accept).

Pay via Alipay

Pay for your purchases via Alipay. As you can see from the screenshot, there is a credit card fee that you will have to bear (approximately 3% of your entire order).

Once the payment is made, the seller(s) will proceed to ship the items to the 4PX (Or your designated freight forwarder) warehouse for consolidation.

Check The Flow of Goods

You can proceed to check the statuses of your purchase from the menu "淘宝集运".

You will be able to track your purchases, as well as view the corresponding costs of shipping it to Singapore. When all the items have arrived at the freight forwarder's warehouse, you can proceed to consolidate and pay.

Consolidate and Pay for Shipping

You will be notified by SMS when you packages arrive at the 4PX warehouse.

(Example:)

Login to Taobao to select the purchases to be grouped. (Check the "订单" checkbox on each item).

Click "运费结算", which means "pay for shipping".

Note: This step is where you select "Home Delivery" or "Self-Collection" (POPStation).

Once you have completed this final payment step, the freight forwarder will proceed to pack and ship your items to your home in Singapore (or POPStation, if you have selected the Self-Collection method)!

Sit back, enjoy a cup of tea and wait for your package(s) to arrive!

Update: Very impressed with the speed of their service - Received the SMS from Singpost about delivery of the package after 3 working days. All in 4PX consolidate and pay to delivery took about 5 days (2 days over the weekend).

Here's a picture of what arrived - nicely packed and sealed, delivered by SingPost.